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Director Randal Kleiser’s big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit Grease is celebrating its 40th anniversary this April. To celebrate the occasion, TCM Big Screen Classics Presents and Fathom Events are hosting special screenings of the Oscar-nominated film in theaters across the country. Although Jim Jacob’s and Warren Casey’s original Broadway production received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, Best Choreography (Birch), Best Actor (Barry Bostwick), and Best Costume Design, it was Kleiser’s film adaptation that would go down in history as an American pop-culture icon, with John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Face/Off) and Olivia Newton-John (Xanadu, Two of a Kind) in the roles of greaser Danny Zuko and good-girl Sandy Olsson. The film received several Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture (Musical/Comedy), Best Actor (Travolta), Best Actress (Newton-John), and Best Original Song for Frankie Valli’s “Grease” and John Farrar’s “You’re The One That I Want,” neither of which is featured in the original musical. John Farrar’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You” also earned the film an Oscar-nomination for Best Original Song. For the anniversary event, special screenings will be played at select theaters on April 8th, April 11th, and April 14th. To find showings near you, visit Fathom Events at the link below and enter your Zip Code on your preferred date, and enjoy the show!

This holiday season will see another Star Wars film dominating the release schedule. Unlike last year’s Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens, whose fan anticipation was the highest since Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace in 1999, Rogue One has already been plagued by script rewrites and unscheduled reshoots. This was in part owing to the lack of direct relevance to any of the original series characters, but also to fan polls that suggested disappointment with earlier plot lines. Nevertheless, production has pushed on and the second trailer for the new film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was just released this week. Rogue One is based on a story by John Knoll (Star Wars: Episode 6 – Return of the Jedi, Avatar) and Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli, After Earth), which was adapted to a script by Chris Weitz (About a Boy, The Golden Compass) and Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Ultimatum, House of Cards) about the Rebel Alliance’s plan to steal the plans to the Death Star, laying the grounds for the epic trilogy that follows with Star Wars: Episode 4 – A New Hope (1977). Director Gareth Edwards (In the Shadow of the Moon, Godzilla) helmed the project with actors Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, The Amazing Spider-Man), Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt, Casino Royale), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Jason Bourne), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises, The Place Beyond the Pines), Alan Tudyk (I Robot, Dodgeball), and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Lee Daniel’s The Butler). Oscar nominee James Earl Jones (Field of Dreams, The Lion King) is also returning to provide the voice of Darth Vader, whose presence in the film will likely hold the biggest intrigue for fans of the series. Check out the new trailer right here on MADE, and enjoy the weekend!

With the summer movie calendar quickly drawing near, new trailers are starting to fill up television spots and the pre-feature trailers at the movie theaters in abundance. One such trailer is the second for the highly-anticipated Captain America: Civil War, which will open on big screens on May 6th, 2016. The new movie follows the story-line established with Avengers 2, Iron Man 3, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this time finding the Avengers split between leading members Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), who disagree over new sanctions that the government wishes to install in order to monitor the team of heros and “prevent any further widespread damage or casualties” as a result of their efforts. As expected, the movie is loaded with the all-star cast of familiar faces, including Scarlett Johansson (Lucy, Hail! Caesar) and Jeremy Renner (American Hustle, The Bourne Legacy). Continue reading →

Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Departed) stole the screen as Jason Bourne in the fast-paced spy series from author Robert Ludlum that began with The Bourne Identity in 2002 and ended (for Damon) with The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007. After that Jeremy Renner (The Avengers, American Hustle) stepped in to portray a new character in the Bourne-universe for director Tony Gilroy in The Bourne Legacy, which received mixed reviews from both critics and fans. But now Damon and Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass (United 93, Captain Phillips) are both returning to the series for a fifth installment, thus far only known as Bourne 5. Julia Stiles (The Omen, Silver Linings Playbook) will also be returning for the new movie, joining new-comers Alicia Vikander (The Fifth Estate, Ex Machina) and Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, A History of Violence) as the new villain. Details for the new story are not yet available, and further casting news is likely still forthcoming, so we’ll keep you posted with further updates.

Director Asif Kapadia (Far North, Senna) will see his new documentary on the late Amy Winehouse (appropriately titled Amy) open in select theaters across the country today. Featuring archival footage and photographs provided by Amy’s family and friends, as well as interviews with Yasiin Bey, Mark Ronson, Tony Bennett, Pete Doherty, and Tyler James (among others), the film explores Amy’s life and career and also the days leading up to her death. Although the Winehouse family was initially behind the project, disagreements over the editing of the film and how Winehouse is portrayed lead to their falling away, saying that too much focus is placed on the negative aspects of her life and not enough on the positives. Whatever the case it should be a pretty worthwhile film, especially in the hands of Asif Kapadia. Amy Winehouse died back in 2011 from alcohol poisoning, and remains the latest person to join the infamous 27-club of rock stars that died at the age of 27. Chicagoans can see the movie at the AMC River East 21 at 322 E. Illinois Street. Enjoy!

Writer/director Rick Ramuyiwa (The Wood, Brown Sugar) will see his latest dramatic comedy Dope open on the big screen this June 19th. Narrated by Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Lee Daniel’s The Butler), the film follows Malcolm, a young high school senior living in Inglewood, CA who struggles with gang-bangers and drug-dealers in his neighborhood while attempting to finish high school and complete his SATs, all while applying for and going on college interviews with the goal of going to Harvard. Ramuyiwa directed from his own script, which first showed at the Sundance Film Festival back in January and which will also be shown at the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival this June. Starring in the film are actors Shameik Moore (The Watsons Go To Birmingham, Joyful Noise), Tony Revolori (The Perfect Game, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Kiersey Clemons (Shake It Up, Transparent), Kimberly Elise (John Q, For Colored Girls), Blake Anderson (Workaholics, Neighbors), and Zoe Kravitz (X-Men: First Class, Divergent). Keep an eye out for an upcoming trailer!

Twentieth Century Fox recently moved their upcoming sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes from July 2016 to the next July in 2017. With this move, the vacated release-spot has been filled by Universal Pictures, moving their upcoming Jason Bourne sequel that will reunite Matt Damon (The Departed, Interstellar) with director Paul Greengrass (Green Zone, Captain Phillips) into this date instead. This will push the Bourne release back by a couple of weeks, but also provide virtually no competition for that opening weekend, so it could turn out to be a really profitable switch. Damon and Greengrass are currently writing the screenplay for the film with producer Christopher Rouse, but there is no word yet as to whether or not the movie will follow the previous installment, The Bourne Legacy, with series newcomer Jeremy Renner (The Avengers, American Hustle). The Bourne Legacy was directed by series screenwriter Tony Gilroy, taking over for Greengrass who directed Damon in both the preceding movies The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), but now Greengrass is back on board to direct and Gilroy has, as of now, fallen away from the series. Stay tuned for more news.

Tony-winning actor Mark Rylance (The Other Boleyn Girl, Blitz) is currently in talks to take a role in director Steven Spielberg’s next film project, a Cold War thriller that follows the real-life story of attorney James Donovan. Donovan is best known for negotiating the release of Gary Powers, a U-2 plane pilot who was imprisoned after being interrogated for espionage by the KGB. Rylance was up for the role of the Mad Hatter’s father in the upcoming sequel to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, but he has since moved on from that project, which will once again feature Johnny Depp as the Hatter. Spielberg’s new film, which has yet to be titled, will also feature Oscar-winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips) in the role of Donovan, and will be his fourth collaboration with the director Spielberg. The film is expected to begin production this fall, but is currently still awaiting a script re-write from writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen (Oh Brother Where Art Thou, True Grit), so we’ll have to wait to hear more information on this as the details emerge. Stay tuned!

Check out the new trailer for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie starring Megan Fox as April O’Neil and Johnny Knoxville as the voice of Leonardo. Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub will also be featured as the voice of Splinter, and William Fichtner will appear in the film as The Shredder. The movie is set for release this August and is directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Battle: Los Angeles) from a script by Josh Applebaum, Andre Nemec, and Evan Daugherty. Enjoy!

The Boston Strangler, aka Albert DeSalvo, already inspired a film by the same title in 1968 starring Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. DeSalvo is famous for confessing to a string of murders that took place near Boston between 1962 and 1964, but authorities later suggested that, due to DNA and evidence in other cases, the murders were actually committed by multiple people. Director Mark Romanek is at the head of the project, which is being produced by Warner Bros., and has Casey Affleck set for the lead role. The movie is still in very early production, and director Romanek may also be set to direct The Last Symbol, another installment in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code series. The original Strangler film focused on a detective who was working the case, but there is no news as to whether or not the new film will go in that direction or focus on the killer himself. We’ll have to wait for more details on this one.